Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, 10:50 p.m. — I’ve trying to get the steel grit out of my beard this evening; I’ve been doing some precision work with a Dremel tool.
OK, I know — the word “Dremel” and “precision” are mutually exclusive terms, kind of like “delicate surgery” and “chainsaw.” But I’ve at least TRIED to impart some sort of precision in my use of my Dremel tool.
The subject of my Dremel work is the keying lever of the new-to-me 1979 Vibroplex Original DeLuxe that arrived recently. The key (per the photo) is missing the thumb and finger pieces, and it has some sort of goofy weight on the weight rod.
The threaded thing is steel, and had a hole through the center about the same size as the weight rod — the weight was hammered or pressed on, and wouldn’t come off. After trying to get it off, I figured my last resort was to cut it off.
I cut two slots lengthwise on the bottom of the weight, careful to avoid going too deep. I cut a v-shaped slice out of the weight, but it remained stuck in place. I took some vice grips and clamped the down on the v-shape, hoping it would help break the weight loose. It took a few times, but it worked well enough to get it off.
There was some surface rust starting under the name plate, which seems to be common on these Maine-era, glued nameplates. I have disassembled the key and cleaned the base; most of what a looked like rust was just some glue-like gunk, which cleaned off with some elbow grease.
I still need to put the key back together and come up with red finger and thumb pieces; I’m thinking I’ll need to order those straight from Vibroplex. I have flattened the nameplate out as best I can and cleaned it up a little. My next quest will be to figure out what to use to reattach the nameplate to the base. Contact cement, I suppose.
I’m not sure what glue was originally used on the nameplates of these Maine-era keys; it seems most of the time you see one of these keys for sale, the nameplate is loose, coming loose or missing.
FT2000RC UPDATE. I thoroughly am enjoying the FT2000RC remote control software for my Yaesu FT-2000. I have it installed on three PCs, including this one I’m using in my library.
The software is designed to use some special audio interface/voice keyer that I don’t have, so using voice will require additional hardware/software. But I can use the software as-is to operate CW using a keyboard, which I have done several times to check in to the Georgia Training Net. The hardest part of using the software is not having the rig right in front of me while I operate it.
HDSDR. I’ve pretty much dropped my use of HDSDR, which was the entire purpose of buying the RT SDR dongle and installing it in my Y2K. The software works but I still have some work to do to optimize my settings and complete functionality. The HDSDR works ok with the Cross Country SDR receiver I have, though I think I’m going to need to run the antenna through a tuner simply to help attenuate the local AM radio station signal.
It makes using the Cross Country use during daylight hours impossible (unless I want to listen to one of a variety of harmonics of our local AM radio station); at night the station reduces power from 1000 to 40. The problem (I believe) is that the local station is overwhelming the wide-open and very sensitive RF front-end. Some local hams have the same issue during daylight hours depending on the radio they are using.
Again, I haven’t spent a lot of time trying to resolve the issue with the Cross Country — especially since I have my Yaesu working with the remote control software.
OTHER PROJECTS IN THE WINGS. I have my share of key/radio/stuff projects waiting for my attention in the coming months.
— Heathkit SB-102. Waiting for the belts for the tuning controls.
— FlexRadio 3000. SDR transceiver is still in the box awaiting setup.
— Tempo 2020 Station. I have two complete Tempo 2020 stations — 2020 transceiver, and matching VFOs and speakers. The first is in place in the shack, and it is one of the sweetest CW rigs I own. Its a hybrid rig of course, and the receiver is just a joy to listen to. I don’t need to do anything to the station but clean the junk off the desk around it so I can put it on the air.
— HAMMARLUND RBG-2 Navy receiver. Yeah, this one has a long history with me, I bought it when I was 14 or 15 from a man who serviced and “tuned” CB equipment. It needs some serious troubleshooting to make it work the way it should.
The list goes on.
73 es CUL de KY4Z … sk … dit dit …